A death Row Interlude

One of the better descriptions that I've seen regarding "Execution Day" comes from Kay Danes' website FPPS. It was posted anonymously - which, in the case of her site is probably a bloody good idea. If the author, whom I suspect to be a Westerner given the level of English used, would care to identify himself to this blog, then I will willingly give him credit for a succinct piece of prose.

“Most times we did not know when they were coming. Sometimes they would lock us down early but would use an excuse like important visitors were coming into the building. They would tell us that we had nothing to fear and that we should remain calm.

They would always come at 4:30 p.m. and the sound of the steel bars and chains being unlocked and removed from the door would strike fear and terror into the hearts of every man on the Row.

The trouble was that those men who had exhausted all possible avenues of reprieve and were on the ‘Blacklist’ were spread equally amongst each of the 20 or 50 cells. There were usually 3 – 4 blacklisted guys in each cell so of course when we would hear the block door being unlocked the entire block would fall into a fearful silence. Even those guys who knew it wasn’t their time would be overwhelmed with fear because of the hysteria generated.

Fear is infectious and each time was mental torture because we all knew that some day it would be our turn. The group of five or six Special Officers would walk slowly up the aisle until they reached the cell that contained the guy whose god had finally called him. There would be a kind of vacuum in the block where every condemned man had breathed in and failed to exhale again. We could all, every last one of us; hear our own hearts beating so loudly in our chests that it was deafening.

The [selected] man would be called to the cell door, handcuffed then led away to oblivion. You could cut the relief with a knife[;] but what a terrible relief. Another of us had gone forever. I saw 21 men go this way during my time on Death Row. Every last one of them walked calmly and silently to their fate. In their heads and hearts they were already dead.”
From what has been written it also becomes clear that this Gentleman was on Death Row prior to my own time in Bang Kwang, i.e.before 1st Nov. 2002. Procedures in Thai prisons change because they are dependent upon the personnel in charge. During my time a particularly nasty little scam being worked by the screws was the "Life Insurance scam". To ensure that those on Death Row were not late in paying their monthly subscriptions, periodically the scum would scare the shit out of us by staging a fake execution.






During my time Death Row was housed in Dan Song (Building 2). Around 800 - 1100 poor souls were anticipating an early re-incarnation at any one time. The numbers would rise and fall depending upon the numbers that were being nicked on the outside, and those that were having their Death Sentences commuted by the Utun or Dikka (essentially the appeal) courts. At this time, Director Fat Pig's (Thittitamupak) profited from a lucrative term of Tenure. If Bang Kwang scuttlebutt is to be believed, it was this ronson's idea to bleed those doomed souls by introducing "Life Insurance".






The scam was very simple. Each month Death Row residents would pay a monthly premium to the building chief. This ranged from 500 to around 5000 Baht, (In UK money, £10 to £100). The payment would ensure that for that month, the prison records of those in the scheme scam would be filed at the back of the cabinet. Effectively ensuring that those beneficiaries would not have to "bite the bullet" and got to keep their "mortal coils".






One example of the Thai screws' "gallows humour" concerned the fake executions that the scum were childishly inclined to present for their own drunken amusement.

Death row only had a limited "Association Time", whereas for the rest of the prison this time stretched from around 06:30 until 15:30. On death row, the luckless souls were usually let out of the cells at around 8:30 for a couple of hours. and then into the main assembly area for around a further hour or so. In the afternoon, at around 13:00 they would again be allowed to gather in the main assembly area until 14:30 when, at this time they were ushered back to their cell for lockdown. Being well placed in the hierarchy meant that these times were extremely flexible, and were Police General Chalor who, despite being on death row still retained his rank and post, be of a mind to flout the schedule for himself and his cronies, he would do so with impunity.




The last "Official" execution was carried out in 2009 on Monday August 24. It marked the end for Bundit Jaroenwanit, 45, and Jirawat Poompreuk, 52 two convicted drug criminals
according to prison authorities. Prior to that there had been a moratorium on executions since the first and last time this was carried out was 12th December 2003 when four prisoners were executed by means of lethal injection.

According to Thai newspapers, the execution happened that evening at 5.30 p.m. here in Bang Kwang. For once, no one knew it was going to happen as it was kept a secret from everyone. Lockdown was at the normal time of 15:30. Both were taken out of their cells with an absolute minimum of brouhaha; usually the screws are full of their own importance and want all of us to know it; to be prepared for the execution. This took one hour. They were allowed one call to relatives but they were only given one minute to talk. One of the prisoners rang his home but there was no answer. His mother had just been to visit him that afternoon and probably hadn’t reached home. The prisoner then asked for a favour to call her mobile phone which was granted. Finally he was able to get through to her to let her know that he was about to be executed. The other prisoner spoke briefly to his wife and young son.


These days, much to scum Chavorlet's disgust, executions are by lethal injection.

The prisoners were also instructed to write a will. Traditionally the presiding Monk gets any (AND ALL) jewellery such as rings and watches. Their fingerprints were then checked to make sure they had the right prisoner; In my book, "Amazing Dieland" I give an account as to how a surrogate was used instead. The execution order from the Prime Minister’s office was then read out to them. They were then given flowers and incense sticks and given an opportunity to say a prayer. They faced towards Wat Bang Praek which is next door and where the cremation will take place. There is a small death door in the wall here. Before the execution, they were offered a last meal. This was a curry and fried asparagus. They were also given an apple and a packet of cigarettes. Obviously they weren’t very hungry. They were then led into the execution chamber where they were given a final blessing and sermon by a monk. Doubtless heavy hints would have been made by him concerning the "Bling" they were wearing.




The governor of Nonthaburi and other government officials attended the execution together with reporters. The relatives weren’t present but they will go the prison in the morning to take part in religious rites for the prisoners. The last execution by machine gun was carried out on 11th December 2002. This was then changed to lethal injection. This is now the second official occasion that lethal injection was used. During 2003, a number of "wet runs" were conducted to test both the equipment and the procedure. Something like 15 victims were volunteered By Fat Pig.

According to the Department of Corrections, a prisoner is injected with three kinds of drugs consisting of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The first drug is a barbiturate which makes the prisoner unconscious. The second one is a muscle relaxant which can paralyze the entire muscle and stop breathing. The last one stops the heart and causes cardiac arrest.





At about 4pm Director Prasert called his men to tell them about the executions. About 15 were assigned to take care of the last-minute business of the two prisoners and the rest were to prepare the execution process.


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-


During Scum Chavorlet Juraboon's time as a psychopathic machine gunner (Shades of Warren Zevon),

A stain on the gene pool of the planet Earth
Two books that you'd think would be near identical; one in English
the other (the original) in Thai. Are they buggery!
read below as to why the shit published twice.
that vile shit insisted that he got the money left on the condemned men's prison account. He bragged that no one ever disappointed him as he threatened to put the gun on single shot, and try and make it last.



Executions were by cowardly machine gunning victims in the back whilst they were tied to the cross. Marksman, as if the arsehole could miss from 10 feet away, on the by shooting, which was replaced by lethal injection in 2003.








Now regarding the two books pictured above. The one on the left is the supposed English translation of scum Juraboon's original book, which obviously was ghost written for him in Thai. It is doubtful that the arrogant shit was literate by the way. His numeracy skills were appalling, and should he have lost a finger or two, he would only be able to progress as far as 8 or 9!



In reality though, the books are entirely different. In the Vanity House Published edition - a book that the Author has to pay to have printed - on the left, the braggart enters extreme flights of fantasy during which he claims influence in many things that it would have been impossible for him to have achieved; Being a Building Chief, Going on a Spy mission with the US Special Forces to check out Vietnamese/Kampuchean military bases, Single (almost) quell the notorious Bang Kwang prison riot during the 80s, and an entire litany of other lies, such as how he was excused full training to restore his karma when he stopped gunning innocents down from 2003, as the Abbot recognised him as a highly advanced incarnation nearing enlightenment. I kid you not!


Now the prat could never get away with this to a native audience, but he figured that we farangs are pretty stupid and we wouldn't be able to comment on Buddhist precepts, etc. etc. etc.


The original Thai book, entitled "Petchakart Consoonthai", literarly the Last Executioner, I made a point of translating - with very diligent help from my Thai friends, )I'd never have managed it on my own), reads entirely differently. Both the self-styled Angel of Bang Kwang, Susan Aldous and her Aussie loud-mouthed advocate, Kay Danes, clearly never bothered to read the Thai original.





Now this book IS WORTH A READ. The problem is that having published it back in 2003/2004 it is now out of print.


I will desk top publish via WWW.LULU.COM, bugger the scum's copyright pretensions, if I get a reasonable demand for it. I think reasonable would be around 300 copies. Each would be cost £2:00 into my Paypal account. DO NOT SEND MONEY YET! I am adamant that I would need some 300 requests for it. Instead send me an email to GGJONESBK@gmail.com , expressing interest.






Do my Russian followers want to hear about my mate Viktor Bovt? Remember friends send comments to me and I will do my best to oblige you.


Мои российские последователи хотят слышать о моей мат Виктор Бовт? Помните, друзья отправить комментарии к мне и я сделаю все возможное, чтобы заставить вас.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Thai King and Lese Majeste

A rogues Gallery

In Memoriam